The Search Committee which has finalized a list of 10 competent persons to form the next Election Commission (EC) is going to submit the list to the President this afternoon as recommendation.
The last formal meeting of the committee was held last Tuesday. The search committee finalized 10 names at its meeting.
After the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Khandaker Anwarul Islam said the search committee had finalized the names of 10 people. They will submit it to the President on Thursday (today).
The President will appoint a Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and four other Election Commissioners (ECs) from the recommended 10
persons by the Search Committee.
They will operate the next parliamentary elections and other local government elections.
On January 27, the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners Appointment Bill-2022 was passed in parliament.
The Search Committee sought names from various political parties and organizations to propose names to the President for the formation of the EC.
Later, 24 political parties and six organizations submitted their names. Many also submitted a list of names in person.
However, several parties, including BNP, Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) and Socialist Party of Bangladesh (SPB) refrained from giving names.
The search committee got the names of a total of 322 people. Most of those on the list were professors, judges, former secretaries and former military officers.
Initially, the names of 20 people were listed from there. Then the search committee fixed the names of 12-13 at the next meeting and at the final meeting they listed 10 names for the President's consideration.
However, according to the law, there is no obligation to list 10 people from the proposed names. In this case, the committee has the opportunity to finalize the list from its own consideration.
The law states that the search committee will carry out its responsibilities following the principles of transparency and impartiality.
The committee will propose to the President two candidates for the post of CEC and eight candidates for the four posts of ECs on the basis of merit, experience, expertise and reputation.
In this case, three qualifications have been mentioned for the post of CEC and Election Commissioners.
The first of these is that the recommended person must be a citizen of Bangladesh. As a second qualification, his/her age should be at least 50 years.
The third qualification states that the recommended candidate should have at least 20 years of work experience in any important government, judicial, semi-government or private or autonomous organization.
Earlier, a search committee headed by Justice Obaidul Hasan of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court was formed on February 5 to form the EC.
The other members of the committee are High Court Division Justice SM Kuddus Zaman, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury, Public Service Commission (PSC) Chairman Mohammed Sohrab Hossain, former Election Commissioner Mohammed Sohul Hossain and Writer Prof Anwara Syed Haq.
